Friday, May 24, 2013

1 Win from a Return Trip to the Conference Finals!

Another win at Staples Center, the 13th in a row for the Kings dating back to the regular season (a franchise record, breaking the 12-game regular season-only streak from October 10-December 5, 1992), has put them on the brink of a return trip to the Western Conference Finals.

The Kings have won 7 games in a single postseason for the 4th time in team history. They previously did it in 1993 (13 wins en route to their first trip to the Stanley Cup Finals), 2001 (7 wins before running out of gas in the 3rd period of the 7th game against the Avalanche), and 2012 (16 wins and the franchise's first Stanley Cup championship). The only other Kings team that won 6 was the 1990-91 squad.

Jonathan Quick won his 27th playoff game as the L.A. Kings' goalie in only his 4th postseason, setting a new franchise record. His all-time record is now 27-16. Kelly Hrudey had a career playoff record of 26-30 in five seasons, winning six playoff series. Rogie Vachon went 9-16, also in five postseasons. Vachon won two playoff series for the Kings, both against the Atlanta Flames.

I'll bet you wouldn't have guessed that Hrudey won six playoff series as the Kings' starting goaltender in five years! Or that by the time Quick broke his franchise wins record, he would not yet have broken that mark even though he has won a Stanley Cup.

A week ago I don't think there were many hockey pundits who would have predicted that we'd be two wins away from a Kings-Red Wings conference final. And yet, here we are. And not only that, but if the Kings and Red Wings can close out their respective series, the Kings would get home ice advantage in the conference finals for the first time in their history!